NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced March 30 that the Sherwin-Williams Company has agreed to pay $14 million to clean up lead and arsenic contaminated soil and sediment at the Route 561 Dump site in Gibbsboro, N.J.
The company also will cover expenses involved in the EPA’s overseeing of the cleanup work.
The site is near a former paint manufacturing plant and includes businesses, a vacant lot, White Sand Branch Creek and wetlands. Sherwin-Williams was allegedly involved in using the area as a paint waste dump.
“This agreement allows us to move forward on this much needed cleanup of contaminated soil and sediment and to protect the health of people who live and work in this community,” said Catherine McCabe, acting EPA regional administrator. “Cleanup of the Route 561 dump site is being paid for by Sherwin-Williams, not the taxpayers, which is an important feature of EPA’s site cleanup program.”
According to the EPA, lead is a neurotoxin that can lower children’s IQ and cause learning disabilities when introduced into the body.